Angry Asian-American protesters swarm Richard Carranza’s car in Brooklyn
Tensions between Asian-American parents and Schools Chancellor Richard Carranza boiled over Tuesday, as a group of furious protesters shouting “fire the racist” swarmed his chauffeur-driven city car outside an invitation-only community meeting in Brooklyn.
The sign-waving demonstrators couldn’t see the embattled schools boss through the vehicle’s tinted windows — but were able to clearly express their anger over changes to admissions policy at the city’s elite schools that they believe will hurt Asian students.
“Fire Carranza!” the crowd of mostly Asian Americans yelled, as the black sedan was forced to slowly inch into a side gate at IS 31 in Bay Ridge with NYPD officers at the sides keeping hecklers at bay.
The polarizing schools chief was visiting the school to take part in closed-door “community chat” with representatives from five area school districts. The gathering was not listed on his official schedule for the day and was closed to press.
Some elected members from loca𒊎l parental advisory boards objected to the DOE-cont♊rolled guest list and accused the department of operating without proper transparency and inclusion.
Yifang Chen, a plaintiff in an anti-Asian discrimination suit against the DOE and member of ღCommunity Education Council 20 in Dyker Heights, said she asked to attend the meeting but was rejected.
“There are a lot of Asians in my area,” said Chen, whose district is considered an academic juggernaut. “All I know is that no Asian members of our CEC were in this meeting. We were not represented.”
The DOE said that district superintendents were put in charge of curating Tuesday’s guest list and were asked to tap a diverse selection of parents and stakeholders.
Several attendees told The Post after the meeting that there were several Asian community m🎐embers in attendance and that Carranza fielded a range of questions.
Sources said he alluded to the protests taking place outside the school 𓃲and lauded the action as indicative of a healthy 🐷democratic process.
Invitees included several elected officials who oppose the SHSAT plan, including Ass♛emblywoman Nicole Malliot🎉akis and state Sen. Andrew Gounardes.
Concerned that new DOE proposals aimed at boosting diversity will lead to fewer Asian students at top city schools, members of the Asian community have voiced increasing discomfort with Carranza’s tenure and directly accuse him of anti-Asian racism.
Carranza backs a proposal to ban the single-test admissions system at the city’s specialized high schools in favor of multiple measures of achievement and guaranteed spots for top finishers at all city middle schools.
Test critics argue that it’s an arbitrarily narrow measure of student talent that has unjustly elbowed out black and Hispanic kids for decades.
They a🌠lso contend that students with the time and resources for test prep classes enjoy an unfair advantage.
The DOE has acknowledged that❀ their plan would cut Asian enrollment at the eight elite schools by half. They did not immediately respond to a request for comment🧜 about the protests.
Backers of the test counter that the test is inherently race blind and has helped to create some of the nation’s most vaunted academic high schools.
“This was the latest of several successful small group conversations, and only about 30 parents from six school districts attended,” said DOE spokesman Will Mantell. “Superintendents were able to invite any parent from their district, and nobody was excluded based on their race, ideology, or for any reason other than limited space in the room.”